"Get spotlights!" they said "It'll be grand! they said, "Plenty of light!" they said

[Gingernaut]

So why am I standing in the middle of the room wearing a fucking head torch to see stuff?????

Where ever I stand, there are at least three shadows crossing what I want to see and I had to get a taller ladder.

I now have to reach up to the ceiling, not the light fitting to change the fucking bulbs!!

Give me one solid, central light over these spots stuck in the corners.

I hate them. I hate them. I hate them.

And I'm stuck with them.

Get under cupboard lighting, then you wouldn't need to have the ceiling lights on. And it lights the worksurface rather then the whole room.

I never have the ceiling lights on in the kitchen the under cupboard give more then enough light for the kitchen.

I've got a million in my open plan kitchen/living/dining room and three lamps on timers as we can't stand the bloody things. They are good in the kitchen area but not anywhere else. It feels like an interrogation room.

@Gingernaut there are 4 switches 😂 two by the bedroom door and two on another wall by the bed. And none of them control all of the lights, so if you get into bed with the far set switched on, you have to get back up again! And it's not a huge room!
There is also a wall switch in the kitchen (lots of Down lights there too) that controls nothing but one light in one of the kitchen cabinets.
Oh, and you can't switch the downstairs hall light off from upstairs either, as there's no switch. I don't know who did the lighting in this place, but it's interesting to say the least.
And bright..,.

Part of my build (hopefully) is a study area that can only look out onto a dark red brick retaining wall. I don't know how to manage the light in there without spots!

You can get different wattage bulbs. So you might have quite low wattage in your kitchen.

I had the reverse, there are twelve in my kitchen (I didn't put them there) and it was so bright I removed four of the bulbs.

I another room there are sixteen and because it has a vaulted ceiling I have to get a ladder (not a step ladder!) to replace the bulbs.

9 in our bedroom. It’s a 1900S house with low ceilings. I hate them.

You need Philips hue ambiance lights - not the colour ones but white that you can adjust. We have then in the kitchen, hallway and toilet.
Mix with a sensor as well as the remote light switch and mine come into 'nightlight setting' if I get up for a wee in the night so it's a warm glow without waking me up.
The lights I can adjust the brightness and whiteness based on task and even time of year. For me it makes all the difference...plus for those with them in the bedroom, the switch works as a remote so you can turn them off in bed using the remote, Alexa, Google home or your phone. No more getting out of bed!

Lol at “property developer pox”.

I’ve got these lights in my kitchen and bathrooms and I love them because it helps when cleaning.

I also have them in front of the wardrobe so I can see all the clothes we’ve crammed in.

No way would I want them anywhere else in the house though! Not the right ambience at all.

I hate them.

Very nougties.

If you have spotlights, how can you "put the big light on"? This alone would ruin it for me.

I change one bulb per room, rarely. I can't see the benefit of having to change more.

@sar302 surely you must be living in a carbon copy of my house. We had 15 in our bedroom, 10 in our spare room and 9 in a not very big study that was admittedly painted dark red. A vat of dulux brilliant white sorted out hte interesting paint choices and a lovely electrician and plasterer combo whipped out all the spots and replaced with a couple of pendants.

Don't get me started on the number of switches and constant bloody dimmers that made me feel like i was living in the age of candlelight. irritating to say the least

property developer pox

Actually developers would rather put in one light per room, cheaper. However the Greens want x% low energy lighting so the easiest way for developers to met the percentage is spots in the kitchens and bathrooms.

@Raaraaboonah the houses must at least share an electrician!
Thankfully we have one half of the house that is spotlight free.... because the ceilings are artex 🤦🏼‍♀️ the spotlights are all in the extension.
I think at some point we will just have to find a "ceiling guy" and get rid of all the artex and spotlights in one aggressive sweep

Our new house has them in the kitchen - but not the dining/family area, literally just over the working area, and in the bathrooms. That works fine.

Old house had them in the livingroom and i hated them. But i like nice light fittings, so when we moved in here having someone come in and replace all of the bulb on a flex with an assortment of nice lights was a priority. We replaced 18...

We have 9 in our kitchen and they're all positioned so that when you're working on any of the worktops or cooker you cast your own shadow over what you're doing. It drives me nuts. I have added under cupboard lighting and use the light on the extractor now to actually be able to see what I'm doing.

Annoyingly, we had our ceiling replaced due to water damage and I didn't even think to have them repositioned somewhere more useful - we just had them put back exactly where they were! Gah! Now I'm pissed off with myself!

What do nice fittings look like then? Pendants or otherwise

🤯 Wow! I've got four spots in every room except the downstairs loo.

That one is directly over the toilet.

It sounds like some of you have to brace yourselves before flicking a switch.

I have in mind a stadium light going 'whump' as a switch is thrown and blinding light fixes you all to your spots.

Detest them. Especially when they're arranged like a runway or grid on the ceiling, catching the eye in an obtrusive manner.

Gah! I'm a bit lost now. The house that we're renovating is a cottage with small windows. We will hopefully have bifolds to the kitchen extension which will bring in some light, but I plan on having no wall units so under unit light fittings aren't an option.

Loads of rooms are naturally dark - back of property faces an old retaining wall and beyond that a high bank - zero view and hardly any natural light. I think spots are my only option but I'm already put-off😫

Also, we're planning on an attic renovation - ceilings not that high so no option for pendant lights!

How do I sort this?

I'm sure there's a time and a place for spot lights, but Victorian high ceilings aren't the era or the place.

I hate them, but you need to think carefully and see examples of how different lighting effects look

We had them in our last house in the bathroom which were great when they worked. I'm not tall enough to change the bulbs. Bloody things

I think they are over done but it's hard to sway people /electricians from what's been the usual for 20 years. Also they want to set them out to make a neat pattern in the ceiling rather than light the room effectively.

We have may be 10 spotlights in our kitchen diner and not a one actually lights the worktop. They just give a sharp light that casts shadows everywhere.

Low energy and LED lighting is so good now there are better options.

The house we are in the process of buying has spotlights in all the rooms, but I love the lights we have collected over the years and want get pendants put in as soon as possible.

Anyone who has done that, what's the cost? And is it a big job?

I think they'll be the wall attached uplighter of its time.

But I love my wall attached uplighters

I have worse. Had new spotlights put into new conservatory roof. Which bulbs do they take? ‘Ah, if a bulb goes you have to change the whole light fitting’. Apparently light manufacturers weren’t making enough money in fittings and bulbs do this is the new thing.